Simple Things

It has been said that the simple things are those that really matter. Well, my life has been a bit simple of late. Whether it has mattered is still undetermined. Music has been keeping me going lately. Piano lessons and choir class - seeing the kids get excited about music makes it all worth while. I actually broke out (not literally, of course) the grand old violin yesterday. We had a tender and touching, though a bit scratchy, reunion. Among other things that have been happening to me recently:

I accidentally closed a door on a baby gecko -without going into details, it was not a pretty sight.

A whale jumped out of the ocean today, just because I was there.

I discovered a rather fat rat in my garage - it was practically waddling away from me when I opened the door one night.

Despite a general indifference and lack of talent at scrapbooking, I learned how to decoupage a box. It was fun, plus I now have a new favorite word. Decoupage, decoupage, decoupage...

 Spring is on its way... I think. Those of you on the mainland are probably waiting on the edge of your seats for the snow to stop and the sun to start shining again. Here in Hawaii, the winter is our rainy season. Despite some rainy afternoons and wet spells (and a case of acute thunderstorms last week), the sun has been smiling the last few days. The local plumeria graveyard...

...has sprouted a few blossoms...

I wish the internet had a scratch-and-sniff button so I could show you what Heaven smells like. Somebody please invent that.

As the seasons come and go, the sea always and never changes - it is always beautiful and never the same. The other day I watched as distant rain showers fell on the Pacific while the setting sun cast golden beams into the veiled horizon...

On a closing note, here's the latest from snowoholics anonymous:

Symphony

Don't you just love waking up in the morning to the sound of a weed-whacker? I sure do... I don't even need an alarm clock anymore! Ahhh, the murmuring music of all those green leafy plants being cut into oblivion... Seriously though, I'm sure weed-whackers are very useful in keeping the yard in trim, but do they have to be used at eight in the morning?

Other sounds of Hawaii: lawnmowers humming, chickens squawking in the middle of the night (they're still stuck on the Portuguese time zone), mosquitos buzzing about, sirens warning you of the upcoming tsunami.

Whew, that little blurt of negativity felt good. Now for the positive side to prove that life in Hawaii is worth living. I know that if I ever move away, I will miss certain sounds. Hawaii has a voice; there are melodies and harmonies weaving together in the atmosphere. Although weed-wackers and lawnmowers are part of this orchestra, there are other aspects that blend together making the very air to quiver with music.

The rustling of the palm trees, the tumult of the sea, the waterfalls brushing gently or roughly against the cliffs. The albatross in the beginning of the year with their mating calls and beak-clacks. The bamboo growing so fast you can almost hear it. The crackle of a bonfire under a sea of stars. The rain gentle in an early morning, collapsing in a golden dusk. I sit on a mountain in the middle of the sea, listening to the most beautiful symphony ever created.